Nederlandse kunst en samenleving in de 17e eeuw-
Symposium aan de Hofstra University, 4-5 mei 1988
In het museum van de Hofstra Universiteit in Hempstead, New York, werd
van 17 april tot 15 juni 1988 een tentoonstelling gehouden van Nederlandse
zeventiende-eeuwse kunst met als thema People at Work. In verband met deze
tentoonstelling organiseerde de Universiteit ook een symposium over Seven
teenth Century Dutch Art and Life. De organisatie was in handen van de 'School
of Education', in het bijzonder Terry L. Baker en Donna R. Barnes, de laatste
tevens de initiatiefneemster van de tentoonstelling. Hoewel in hoofdzaak kunst
historici aan het symposium deelnamen, waren er ook een aantal niet-kunst-
historici. Dit was ook bewust door de organisatoren zo gepland.
De openingsrede werd uitgesproken door Simon Schama, mij nog van vroe
ger bekend toen hij als jong onderzoeker het Algemeen Rijksarchief bezocht,
thans een beroemd man. Voor onze discipline was wellicht het interessantst
de voordracht over de zeventiende-eeuwse Nederlandse kunstmarkten door Mi
chael Montias, een econoom en auteur van het bekende boek Artists and arti
sans in Delft: a socio-economic study of the seventeenth century (Princeton
1982). Het is duidelijk dat van Montias' onderzoek in Nederlandse gemeen
tearchieven nog veel te verwachten is dat licht zal brengen over de positie van
de schilder en de verspreiding van het kunstbezit.
Mijn eigen paper, waarvan de tekst hier volgt, paste in een reeks andere ge
wijd aan het Nederlandse overzeese imperium. Het symposium was zeer inspi
rerend en ook de sfeer in de wandelgangen geanimeerd. Met enkele regelmati
ge bezoekers van Nederlandse archieven heb ik kennisgemaakt, met anderen
de kennismaking hernieuwd.
New World Colonization
One of those matters in life we deplore-and here at this moment
particularly - is that none of the great representatives of Dutch painting made
the voyage to New Netherland to leave to posterity a series of landscapes of
the river Hudson, Dutch farms in the New World, an Iroquois watching his
huntingfields. We can only dream about it.
Speaking of dreams however, is not opportune. Here we have to discuss the
history of Dutch colonization. The legacy of Dutch colonization is wide and
interesting, but two aspects of it are disappointing: the artistic legacy is not
particularly great, nor is its linguistic one. I will especially emphasize the latter
aspect, making some oblique remarks on those colonies where Dutch painters
lived and worked.
The Netherlands did not create a large Dutch-speaking empire. Dutch is in
the world incomparably less important than English, French, Spanish or Por
tuguese. Personally I sometimes dream about how easy it would have been
had it been otherwise! Dutch as a language disappeared in practically all the
former overseas possessions, being nowadays even in the Netherlands
Antilles - the only remnant of our empire - in a threatened position. In order
to explain this we have to put Dutch expansion in its proper light. Essentially
both the East and West India Company were commercial companies, not in-
tending to establish real settlements overseas. Especially the possessions of the
East India Company were originally no more than fortified trading posts, si
tuated on the coast. From these, trade was carried on with Asiatic powers.
Only gradually did the Company become an occupying power too. In a way
it blundered into that position in Java, although some 'planned' colonization
also took place. Especially Ceylon and South Africa must be mentioned. That
development into real colonies took place relatively late and was interrupted
by British conquests during the Napoleonic wars. Dutch as a language dis
appeared, making place for English and Afrikaans.
Likewise in Indonesia, where a far more intensive colonization took place
in the 19th and 20th century, Dutch has practically disappeared. Modern views
on Indonesian history tend to consider the Dutch only as temporary, peripheral
intruders.
The Dutch overseas empire in the area of the West India Company, in Ame
rica and West Africa, was different. Only in Ghana was the Company in a
situation comparable with that of the East India Company. Trade in gold and
slaves was carried on with African powers. The small Dutch possessions here
were sold to England in 1870. Only some fortresses and approximately sixty
family-names recall the Dutch past. But the western hemisphere was also the
scene that people dreaming about an overseas empire with a Dutch popula
tion had in mind. Nor was it only a matter of dreams. Real effort led to settle
ments in America completely different from the Dutch Asiatic and West Afri
can possessions. They were far more real 'colonies', overseas settlements. New
Netherland is one of the examples. The fact that this colony was only a short
lived one - at least so far as it was a Dutch colony is something that the or
ganization of the West India Company should be blamed for. New Nether
land was not the only Dutch colony (and frustration) in America. Certainly
it was not the most spectacular effort to realize dreams about a great Dutch
overseas empire.
It is the short history of Dutch Brazil (1624-1654) that marks the culminati
on of early Dutch 'imperialism'. In many ways is was no more than an episo
de. The extraordinary personality of Johan Maurits van Nassau has drawn
a lot of attention and this 'humanist prince in Brazil' was no doubt an outstan
ding, although atypical, colonial administrator. Thanks to Johan Maurits, a
real mecenas, the artistic legacy of the shortlived Dutch occupation of Brazil
is great. Frans Post is by far the best known Dutch landscape painter who lived
and worked in the tropics. The artistic value of his work is beyond doubt and
his Brazilian landscapes stand comparison with the European ones of other
Dutch painters of his era. Albert Eckhout who depicted both men and ani
mals was also an interesting painter.
Johan Maurits' governorship was costing too much money and so was Dutch
Brazil as a whole. In 1654 the Dutch were expelled completely from Brazil by
the Portuguese. Dreams however, about what Brazil might have been, remai
ned very much alive and the loss of Brazil was for the Dutch a traumatic one.
A substitute was found, no more than a consolation prize, in Guyana, whe
re Surinam became the most important plantation colony. Originally Surinam
had been a flourishing English sugar colony and it was exchanged in 1667 at
the Breda Peace Congress for New Netherland. The importance of Surinam
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